"Are you sure you don't want a bicycle, too?" Grandma asked in surprise.
But just look at Cave Man Toy Set: hard-muscled guys in loincloths throwing spears and rocks at gigantic dinosaurs! (This was before toymakers realized that dinosaurs and prehistoric humans didn't coexist).
My boyfriend Bill agreed with my decision. We spent many hours with that Toy Set, imagining jungle explorations, nick-of-time rescues from warring tribes or brontosauri, and "my hero" hugs.
My Grandma Davis wasn't entirely opposed to the idea of prehistory. One day in her attic I found this Van Loon Story of Mankind, published in 1926, with some muscular cave men on the cover.
You almost never saw or heard of a cave woman. I got the distinct impression that our ancestors were all male, roaming around naked in hunter-gatherer bands.
Maybe this was before Adam and Eve, so women hadn't been created yet.
I've seen displays that only cover up guys visible from the front. The cover always looks like something a 50s Bob Mizer model would wear.
ReplyDeleteThe cover for "Before Adam" is stunning
ReplyDeleteBoomer you must have been a big fan of One Million Years BC!
ReplyDeleteI've never seen that movie, but I understand the main draw is Raquel Welch in a bikini, so probably not.
DeleteWelch did have a hunky cave boyfriend- John Richardson
DeleteI was not able to comment on the "Terry and The Pirates" post- but you are right about the 1940 serial specially that ape episode- which is pretty exciting- it's obvious than Terry and Pat are a couple who have no problem sharing the same bed.
ReplyDeleteApparently the comments are turned off for "Terry and the Pirates," and I don't know how to turn them on again.
DeleteWell, I wanted to mention Earth-2. Earth-2 was the original DCU. So every year, Robin has a birthday party, until 1956 moves us to Earth-1, which operates under the more familiar sliding timescale.
DeleteThis makes assuming Batman and Robin are lovers more reasonable, since Robin would be 22 at the time; you just have to ignore that he debuted at age 8 and that Batman referred to him as his son during the Uncle George storyline in 1942. (I mean, iit's not like the Grayson family belongs to an ethnic group often libeled as child traffickers and scam artists or anything.)
So, because they didn't want anybody to think Batman likes little boys (which will become hilarious when you consider Chuck Dixon's retcons make Dick and Barbara a couple when Dick was still a minor and Barbara was old enough to run for Congress), National Publishers essentially rebooted their universe. Dick was 22 in 1954? He'll be 19 in 1984. The sliding timescale became the rule.
More recently they've actually tried to explain the sliding timescale. Basically as characters age, they age more slowly. And this also allows adult versions of sidekicks to work alongside their mentors for years after the latter by all rights should've retired. Batman was by all rights in his 40s as of Crisis on Infinite Earths. But if his 40s is our late 20s, that's acceptable.